Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Rick Santorum won the support of a
group of U.S. family and religious leaders who called for social
conservatives to coalesce behind one Republican presidential
candidate as an alternative to Mitt Romney.

The endorsement came on the eve of the final Sunday worship
services before the Jan. 21 primary in South Carolina, where 60
percent of 2008 Republican primary voters said in exit polls
that they consider themselves “born again” or evangelical
Christians.

“They’ve looked at not just what we’ve been able to
accomplish during this primary season so far, but they’ve looked
at the track record of someone that’s been a strong, consistent
voice across the board on all the conservative issues,”
Santorum said yesterday while campaigning in Mount Pleasant,
South Carolina.

On “Fox News Sunday,” Santorum called the endorsement a
“very big deal” that will lead to grassroots campaigning in
South Carolina from individuals who will “help our cause.”

Santorum received 85 of 114 votes on the third ballot at a
gathering of religious leaders on a ranch near Bleiblerville,
Texas, defeating former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Tony
Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told
reporters on a conference call yesterday.

Not the Alternative

Santorum is not the obvious alternative to Romney, Gingrich
said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today, adding that polls have
shown he is “the strongest rival” to Romney in South
Carolina. Gingrich said that, if he loses in South Carolina, he
would reassess his candidacy.

The endorsement could give a boost to Santorum, a former
U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. Evangelical voters helped propel
former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee into second place in
South Carolina four years ago, and did so for Santorum this year
in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, where he finished eight votes
behind front-runner Romney.

Santorum called himself the “conservative alternative to
Mitt Romney,” although he said he wouldn’t ask others to drop
out of the race to help focus voters most concerned about
abortion and other life issues.

The voting in Texas was winnowed to Santorum and Gingrich
after the first two ballots, Perkins said. Officials for each
contender for the nomination, with the exception of former Utah
Governor Jon Huntsman Jr., spoke in support of his own
candidacy.

Evangelical Groups

Organizers included Gary Bauer, president of American
Values in Washington, and Donald Wildmon, founder of the
American Family Association of Tupelo, Mississippi, Perkins
said. Also attending was Richard Land, president of the
Nashville, Tennessee-based Ethics and Religious Liberty
Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Perkins declined to name others present at the two-day
event on a ranch owned by H. Paul Pressler, a Houston attorney
and former judge. Perkins described the group as “conservative
leaders, businessmen and political activists.”

No coordinated effort to support Santorum is expected,
Perkins said, though the groups represented may step up
fundraising and direct-mail programs to help him.

‘Reliable’ Supporter

Perkins described Santorum as “reliable” and said that
stumbles by Texas Governor Rick Perry “were too great to
overcome” for him in a general election.

“It is not news that there is not strong support among
conservatives across the country for Mitt Romney,” Perkins
said. “A true conservative has the best chance of winning the
general election against Barack Obama.”

Perry said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that voters will
decide who wins in South Carolina.

“I’ve been in this business long enough to understand that
you’re not going to get everyone to love you,” he said. “It’s
not organizations that elect; it’s the people and we’re going
directly to the people.”

Asked whether he would continue on to Florida even if he
placed last in South Carolina, Perry said, “That’s our
intention.”

On “This Week,” Perry said he will make his decision on
whether to remain in the race after the South Carolina primary.

Mormon Faith

Romney’s Mormon faith wasn’t discussed by the evangelical
group, which included members of several Christian
denominations, Perkins said.

“Conservative evangelical leaders spoke very clearly today
that Mitt Romney will not be the nominee,” R.C. Hammond, a
Gingrich spokesman, said in a statement after the endorsement.
“It is encouraging for the Republican Party to have two choices
in Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.”

Gingrich spoke yesterday at a church dominated by blacks in
Columbia, South Carolina, where he defended his record in front
of about 50 people, including some who later said they have no
intention of voting for any of the Republicans in the race.

After the meeting, Gingrich walked through a chicken dinner
in the church basement shaking hands. He said the event was
worthwhile and that other Republicans should reach out beyond
their core constituencies. “As Americans, we need to talk to
each other,” he said.

Ron Paul Absent

Absent from the South Carolina conversation yesterday was
U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who has made just one
campaign appearance in the state since his second-place showing
in the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 10.

Campaigning yesterday in Sumter, South Carolina, Romney
didn’t address the Santorum endorsement. He also ignored shouted
questions from a reporter as he signed autographs.

Senator John McCain of Arizona, who supports Romney, on
CNN’s “State of the Union” shrugged off the endorsement of
Santorum by the group of family and religious leaders. He said
the Republican Party needs to be concerned with not putting too
much focus on the most conservative elements of its membership.

“Jobs and the economy are the transcendent issues of this
campaign,” said McCain, the Republican presidential nominee in
2008. He said the economy is “a much higher priority for the
voters” of South Carolina and on that score “every poll shows
Mitt Romney is most electable.”

Romney and Gingrich are looking beyond South Carolina’s
primary and have spent time this week in Florida, which holds
its primary Jan. 31. Wins by Romney in South Carolina and
Florida, after his victories in this month’s opening contests in
Iowa and New Hampshire, would put him on a path to quickly wrap
up the Republican nomination.

Worse Economy

The South Carolina contest will play out in an economic
environment that’s worse than the national average. The state’s
unemployment rate was 9.9 percent in November, the most recent
month available, compared with December’s national rate of 8.5
percent. That’s high enough to put South Carolina in the top 10
states for the most unemployment in November.

On the final weekend before the primary, advertising also
grew more frequent across the state.

A political action committee backing Perry began airing an
ad that attacks Gingrich on ethics and accuses Santorum of
voting for pay raises and locally targeted federal spending
projects known as earmarks.

Winning Our Future, a committee backing Gingrich, is airing
two new ads in South Carolina. One links Romney to Obama’s 2010
health-care overhaul and says Romney is “not conservative” and
“not electable.”

The Red White and Blue Fund, a group supporting Santorum’s
campaign, began airing a commercial that promotes his opposition
to abortion and radical Islam.

Huntsman received the endorsement today of The State
newspaper in South Carolina’s capital of Columbia. Huntsman is a
“true conservative, with a record and platform of bold economic
reform straight out of the free-market bible,” the newspaper
said.